Thursday, March 10, 2005

A Tale of Two Cities


It goes without saying that our family and friends who live in brighter corners of our country have wondered “"Why Fort Wayne”?" To add to insult to injury and prompt further jeering, a recent study concluded that our beloved Fort Wayne was the DUMBEST city in the country (click here to read). Could this be? At this point I must defer to Kip who would say, “Napoleon there’s no way of even knowing that.” The dumbest city! And this just a year after having to combat the “fattest city” rumors! I feel like I need to defend my city. I live in Fort Wayne alright, and I like it. A recent USA Today article was a little kinder to us, as they had to visit to see if there were any “signs of intelligent life in Fort Wayne” (click here). But let me go further. Fort Wayne is part of all of our daily lives wherever we live. If you turned your T.V. on today, thank Fort Wayne, if you put gas in your car, thank Fort Wayne, if you washed your clothes this week, thank Fort Wayne, if you baked something with baking powder, thank Fort Wayne, if you listened to a record or ever went to a Stax-o-Wax dance, thank Fort Wayne, if you have ever enjoyed watching baseball at night, thank Fort Wayne, if you enjoyed watching the Piston’s sweep (err) beat the Lakers for the NBA championship thank Fort Wayne, and most important every time you chomp into an apple Thank Johnny and thank Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne is home to all these inventions: the T.V., the turntable or phonograph, baking powder, the gas pump, magnetic wire, the first lighted professional baseball game, the washing machine, and the World Champion Detroit Pistons read more here. And still today we have one of the best libraries in the country with 3 times as many books as any other city our size, we have a nationally acclaimed zoo (barring the wildebeast incident), museums, cinemas, 3 rivers, Fox Island, and Johnny Appleseed, enough said. How’'s your city doing? Bring it.
 Posted by Hello

4 comments:

Ben and Becky said...

LA today: 80 and sunny!

Bill said...

B-town, the home Ritters, two DQ's within 5 miles of Winding Trail, Yum Yum Tree, only in B-town. Ritter's in Ann Arbor, 12 miles away and no off season. Home of Red Robin, we share that with the rest of the country. 20's snow today, eat your heart out SoCal. B-town, the home of my best friends at Hamburg Kitchen Cabinets (corner of Hamburg Rd. and Winans)- ask Ben. B-town, the home of that famous actor - Bill Nylund. B-town, the location of the famous film, "Bruce, The Window Cleaner". B-town, the home of Santa Claus wearing Abigail's clothes on the roof at Winding Trail. What a place to be from, that B-town. Finally, the home of 4 great young men, three to SoCal and 1 to the Fort.

sarahjane said...

wes, i commend your fort wayne article. well said. brought a tear to my eye. why fort wayne? what a good question. i think the second article you linked was excellent--especially the whole library stint. fort wayne is my birth place, close to my heart, bad weather or not.

lena jo said...

What WAS the wildebeast accident????